Sliding doors provide a convenient access to the interior of a vehicle, but are often heavy and unwieldy to operate manually by smaller users. Power sliding door systems overcome the physical challenges posed by the heavy sliding doors. Using either a button or a micro-switch integrated into the door handle, a user can power open or close the door. In handle-operated systems, the micro-switch is typically used to inform electronic control module (ECM) of the power sliding door system that a user has grabbed or released the handle. If the ECM determines that the right conditions are met (such as opening the door only when it is unlocked), it engages the motor to open or close the door, as well as release the door latch (if necessary). In typical prior art power door systems, position sensors (such as bi-directional Hall Effect sensors) are usually built into the DC motor to provide control logic to the ECM.
However, power sliding door systems can seem slow or inconvenient compared to simple manual operation. Generally, the powered open or closing cycle does not intuitively mimic manual operation of the door, particularly if the user wishes to interrupt the cycle midway. Typical power sliding door systems cannot combine power door motion and manual inputs in an intuitive manner as the power door systems are typically 100% power activation (via the handle switches) or 100% manual activation (when the power system is deactivated). Some systems provide a power interrupt feature where grabbing the handle will stop a door from moving to the open or closed positions, allowing for manual operation of the door. Other power sliding door systems provide automatic direction reversal via the handle input switch, but offer no manual operation mode without deactivate the power sliding door system from elsewhere in the vehicle.
It is therefore desired to provide a power sliding door system that provides both powered and manual operation of the door via handle input. It is further desired to provide a power sliding door system that allows for both powered and manual door operation using just the handle without the need to activate or deactivate the power sliding door system using a separate switch.